Despite record low mortgage rates, all cash purchases of homes became increasingly common in 2011, according to a report from Hanley Woodâs Housing Intelligence Pro. Cash accounted for 38 percent of sales in 2011, up from 34 percent in 2010 and 19 percent in 2006.

A Hanley Wood blog attributed the trend to âtight lending standard and a desperate search for yield by investors.â

âThe trend is likely to continue in the near term, with investors being responsible for an increasing share of home purchases as prior home owners abandon the ownership market and head back to rentals,â the blog said.

Increasing consumer preference for rentals was also underscored by the kind of home permit activity that was recorded across the nation in November, said Hanley Wood. The good news was that permits for residential building increased 5.7 percent from October, the largest month to month gain since March of 2010. But the issuing of permits for single family homes increased just 1.6 percent, while permits issued for multi-family homes (translate apartments) jumped 13.l9 percent.

Join the conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful
conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments,
we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful,
threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent
or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law,
regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.